Lauren Vesey, the Mount's senior point guard, looks to make an outlet pass. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

A strong start proved to be the most important factor for Mount St. Joseph Academy in last Tuesday's District 1 tournament opener. Over the first 10 minutes the Magic jumped on visiting Harriton High School to go up 19-6, and they led 24-10 at the intermission.

The second half was not quite so satisfying for MSJ fans thinking about the tougher competition that lay ahead. The two teams pretty much traded points during the third quarter, then after a good beginning to the fourth round that pushed the hosts' lead to 19 points, the Magic allowed the Rams to almost cut that deficit in half by the final horn.

Seeded fifth for the PIAA District 1 Class 5A tournament, Catholic Academies runner-up Mount St. Joe improved to 18-7 overall. Harriton, the 12th seed, ended its season at 11-13 after having placed sixth in the Central League.

The scout on the Rams was that they liked to shoot the "three" and had a number of different players who could do it. Mount St. Joe attentively limited Harriton to just two treys throughout the first half. In the second half, though, the visitors lobbed in seven long-range shots, five of them in the last six minutes.

In the bracket just above the Magic's, league rival Villa Maria (the fourth seed) had rolled to a 20-point victory, so the Mount would meet the Hurricanes in the second round of the tourney. The two teams had split in their regular-season series, with Villa avenging a loss to the Mounties in the first meeting.

Lauren Vesey, the senior point guard who led the Magic with 17 points against Harriton, was looking forward to the rubber match with Villa.

"We know we can beat them because we did it the first time," she said, "but now we'll be thinking about how they beat us the last time. Even though we lost to St. Basil in our tournament [in the Catholic Academies championship game], we're pretty happy with our season. In Districts, I think the top teams are pretty even this year, so we have an opportunity to go far."

In last Tuesday's opener no one scored for two minutes, then MSJ senior forward Kelly Rothenberg popped in a shot from the paint on an inbounds play. After that, a pair of Harriton three-pointers bracketed a free throw by MSJ senior Audrey Bryce and a lay-up in transition by junior Grace Niekelski.

Magic junior Grace Niekelski takes the ball across midcourt. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

The Rams now held their last lead of the evening at 6-5, and that was erased by transition buckets by senior Grace Morrow and Rothenberg as the Mount easily and efficiently moved the ball around the floor. Down 9-6, Harriton called time-out with 1:35 left in the quarter, but when play resumed the Magic finished out the period at 14-6 thanks to a drive by Rothenberg and a three-pointer by Vesey from the right wing that also stemmed from the transition offense.

A "three" by Nikelski, a fast-break basket by senior Taylor Sistrunk, and a Vesey free throw raised the home team's lead to 14 points, and the teams traded field goals after that to arrive at the 24-10 halftime tally.

Continued steady output by Vesey was supplemented by scoring from freshman Georgia Pickett in the third frame, and although Harriton put in

its first two three-pointers since the opening quarter, the visitors slipped behind by another two points, 35-19.

In the first 90 seconds of the fourth period, Sistrunk made a free throw and Vesey scored off of a steal. The Rams, now trailing by 19, called a time-out.

The Main Line squad decided it would go down fighting, netting five three-pointers and a lone free throw the rest of the way to outscore the Magic, 16-7. The final trey, with seven seconds left, made for a 10-point gap at the end.

"We came out strong and showed our dominance, but we definitely could have finished the game out better," Vesey remarked afterward. "I think in the beginning our defense was definitely throwing them off. It took them awhile to get comfortable, but once they did, we didn't do a very good job of protecting against the 'three.' We'll learn from that and use it to prepare for our upcoming games."

Following the senior in the Mount scoring stats were Niekelski, with seven points, Rothenberg, with six, and Bryce and Pickett with four points apiece. Sistrunk contributed three points, and Morrow and junior Danielle Dodaro each added two.

With four three-pointers, Lexy Calhoun led Harriton with 12 points, and Annie Aspesi was next for the Rams, with eight.

UPDATE: On Friday Mount St. Joe's won on the road at Villa Maria, 47-41. The Magic advanced into a semifinal match-up against top-seeded Springfield (Delco) High School, which will be played at Harriton High at 7:30 PM on Tuesday, February 25.